Life Must Go On
by Willibald
Summary: ' The Prologue'. So what do you do once Voldemort is defeated? Rated PG13 to be on the safe side. More to follow, but a little feedback would be appreciated. *WIP*
1. Default Chapter 'The Prologue'

OK, usual disclaimers re characters and locations, they belong to JKR and Warners, not me. Thanks must go to my wife Dawn for some of the sub-plots and for general idea bouncing and proof-reading, and to the nice people responsible for The Harry Potter Lexicon which has saved a lot of time flicking back and forwards through the books 

Prologue. In which Harry has a rude awakening... 

The explosion rocked the Great Hall of Hogwarts. 

Harry watched helplessly as Voldemort turned towards Neville, the last of theDA standing. But Neville stood strangely composed, wand ready. 

"Crucio." 

Voldemort screamed and fell to the floor, his body contorting as the spell wracked through him. 

"Crucio," Neville cursed again sending fresh agonies through the Dark Lord. "Crucio you bastard. Did you laugh when Bella did this to my mother? Crucio. Did you enjoy it when she did this to my father? Crucio. Left me little more than a squib because of what you had done to them, didn't think I was a threat, eh? Crucio. Well, you bastard, you hurt my parents and you hurt my friends, but you're not going to hurt anyone else. Voldemort Incendio." 

Voldemort's flesh twisted as the fires started within his body. The bones of his arm, wrenched from their socket, tore through his skin in a fountain of blood. His robes burst into flames, mere cloth not able to take the heat coursing through his flesh. Defiant to the end Voldemort staggered to his feet and raised his wand but the wood caught and he  
was left holding ashes. For a moment he looked shocked, this could not happen to him, he would not let it happen to him, not from the likes of Longbottom. 

Neville raised his wand again. "So it must end, Avada Kedavra." 

Voldemort screamed again as he was consumed by the green light from Neville's wand. Then he was gone. 

Harry knew that everyone present would be haunted by that scream for as long as they lived. 

Neville, exhausted, sank to his knees, tears flowing freely. 

Harry threw off the rubble that covered him and looked around the ruin of the Great Hall. Ron, bleeding from a cut on his temple, was trying to comfort Hermione. Her limbs were still shrivelled from Voldemort's curse, but she was still conscious despite the pain. Seamus was in some ways more fortunate, unconsciousness shielded him from his injuries. Snape, dragging one leg uselessly, was checking the other members of the staff, while McGonagall sat propped up against a pillar, catching her breath. Snape lifted a beam from across Professor Flitwick's diminutive form, and shook his head sadly to McGonagall. Hogwarts would be needing a new teacher for Charms. 

Harry turned, attracted by the shifting of the rubble behind him. He quickly regretted it for it brought Draco into his field of view. The boy had paid along with the other Death Eaters, when their master decided he needed more power. His torn and eviscerated corpse still hung in mid air mirroring that of his father on the floor. Harry tried to tell himself that he had deserved this fate, especially after what he had done to Ginny, but the sight still made him feel sick. 

Rubble shifted and there was a short scream. A silver hand clawed the air for a moment, then was still. More rubble shifted and the last of the Death Eaters was buried from view. 

Harry turned back to where Snape was clearing debris to free Madam Hooch's arm. The job was not made easier by the fact that two of the larger stones had apparently merged with her flesh. 

"Is it really over. Professor?" asked Harry. "Is he really gone?" 

  
Snape gently laid Hooch's arm down, and painfully limped over to Harry.  


"Oh Harry, Harry..." Snape had tears forming in his eyes.  


"It's not too bad. Professor, I'm just a bit dazed, that's all." 

Snape, tears flowing freely now, did his best to compose himself but could only do so by releasing his anger. "Never were very quick on the uptake, were you Potter?" He snapped. 

Harry's gaze followed Snape's eyes downwards, to the bloodied figure lying like a broken doll at his feet. Suddenly he understood all too well. 


	2. In which Harry explores his new state of...

Ususal disclaimers, please see the prologue for more details. Please review as the story has quite a bit further to go, and any comments would be welcome. 

Life Must Go On 

Chapter 1 In which Harry explores his new state of being. 

Madam Pomfrey quietly moved among her charges, stopping now and again to check a note or change a dressing. The Hospital Wing was still twice its usual size, but they should be able to return it to normal once Professor Sprout had been discharged that afternoon. This done she returned to her office/lab. Even with half of the victims of Voldemort's final stand now being healed there were still too many potions needed making each day to allow her much time to rest. Professor Snape had been invaluable with his help at the beginning - once she had stabilized his leg that was. 

Harry carefully pushed his head though the closed door of the ward to see if anyone was about. Then he walked, no, floated into the room. He had become extra careful to avoid Madam Pomfrey while in the ward. She was friendly enough if they met anywhere else in Hogwarts, but she held that the Hospital was no place for the dead, as if they might encourage those being treated to go with them rather than to get well. He was doing his best to keep his ghostly form invisible to normal wizards unless he wanted them to see him, but somehow she always seemed able to detect his presence. 

This early in the morning, there were few visitors. Professor Trelawney, in her finest shawls and jewellery, was already working with Dean Thomas. His divination skills had improved dramatically since a Death Eater had ripped out his eyes, and Trelawney was helping him interpret the things he saw. That he could now study books while they were still on the library shelves meant that he was fast outstripping her knowledge of reading signs, but having taken on the youth as her acolyte she had gained a far higher status with the rest of the staff and was reluctant to relinquish it. For his part, Dean was content to let her keep it. Shortly after she had started his training he had seen into her soul and felt the strength of the prophesies that had caused the rest of her powers to atrophy, and had understood why Dumbledore had allowed her to remain at Hogwarts. And why nobody else could know. 

Dean gave an almost imperceptible nod to Harry as he drifted past, invisibility being no protection from a seer of the power he had become. Harry smiled back then continued into the ward. He desperately needed to talk to someone, but when he reached Hermione's bed he found Ron was already there, feeding her her breakfast. 

"Not so fast" mumbled Hermione as Ron tried to force another piece of bacon into her mouth. "I need to breath as well, you know." 

"Sorry, I was hoping you could get finished so I could tell you my news." 

"News, what news would that be Ronald Weasley?" Have they finally decided to expel you?"  


"Better than that" Ron answered, "but I want you to eat up before I tell you."  
"OK nurse, but this had better be worth the wait." 

Ron fed a couple more forkfuls to Hermione, but then her face contorted in agony and she coughed, spraying Ron with partly chewed sausage. Harry, remembering how bad it had been to grow the bones of one limb back, shuddered at the thought of regrowing four at once. 

"No more, not now" Hermione managed, "I need... I need to rest now." 

0Ron stood and moved her plate away. Then he brushed off the remains of the sausage and muttered a quick charm to clean his robes. "I'll see you later then." He started to leave but turned back. "My news. I've been accepted. Department of Misinformation. I start at the Ministry in a fortnight." 

"That's wonderful, but I really must rest." 

"I'll be back this afternoon." Ron planted a rather chaste kiss on Hermione's cheek, and left the ward, blushing to match his hair. Hermione grinned to herself as he left, but then the pain hit her again. Harry could see that this was worse than before by the way she doubled up on the bed, but was unprepared for her screams. Madam Pomfrey came running from her office, wand at the ready. Seeing Hermione's distress, she cast a sleep charm, and the girl grew silent. Beneath her covers, however, her body writhed like a nest of serpents. 

Madam Pomfrey looked up to find Ron charging back into the room "She needs quiet to rest now," she said, "It's best if you leave her. That goes double for you, Mr. Potter." 

Harry was unaware that he had become visible, but drifted towards the door with Ron. 

"I'll let you, let both of you know as soon as there is anything to know." Madam Pomfrey called after them. : - 

The two walked in silence until they reached the corridor to the Gryffindor common room. 

"So Harry, how's things?" asked Ron, unable to endure the quiet any longer. 

"Much the same, I'm still dead." He paused, "She will be all right, Ron. She's much stronger than she looks right now." They reached the Fat Lady, Harry added "Oh, and congratulations on the Ministry." 

"Thanks" Ron muttered, "I'm still not sure if Snape pulled a few strings or not. I wouldn't put it past him to want to have something on me in case he could use it later. Well, see you then Harry." 

"Yeah, see you Ron." 

*** 

Harry found himself, as he so often did these days, drifting aimlessly towards the wing which had once held Professor Dumbledore's office. As usual, he stopped at the shattered gargoyle that could no longer guard the entrance to the staircase. Once again, Harry made to enter the pulsating green light that flowed down the steps, but held back, not yet ready to face what his -heart?- told him he must do. The light would still be here this time tomorrow, or next week, or in a thousand years, and it wasn't as of he was going anywhere in a hurry. 

The sound of footsteps at the top of the stairs brought Harry from his reverie. He didn't know that anyone else came here anymore. 

_Oh, they'd all been here after it had happened, all the staff, people from the Ministry, specialists from St. Mungos... None of them had been able to accomplish anything, but they had come nevertheless. It had been out of bounds to students at that time of course, but that hadn't stopped him, Ron and Hermione from trying to see if they could do what their elders could not. The light had stopped them then, though. In a world of magic and wonders, that light was simply unnatural._

__The footsteps drew closer as their owner climbed down the ruined staircase. Light, careful footsteps, a woman then. Harry had hid himself in the shadows which were made all the darker by the eerie green light coming from above, before he remembered what he was and softly faded into invisibility. 

_They had come again after Voldemort had been defeated. After Harry had been ...after he had changed. They hadn't been able to do anything then, either._

__A figure detached itself from the glow and paused at the bottom of the stairs. In the normal light of the corridor, Harry could see that it was Madam Pomfrey. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she took a final look up into that glow. Then she composed herself, and strode off in the direction of the Hospital Wing. 

Harry was torn between following Pomfrey or braving the glow, when he heard the voice again. That all too recognizable, all too impossible voice calling his name. The voice of Albus Dumbledore. 

Harry turned and ran in the opposite direction to that taken by Madam Pomfrey. He did not stop for walls or other obstructions, but ran on until he collided with something too solid for his ghostly form. Make that someone. His glasses went flying and the pair tumbled to the ground. Harry groped for his glasses, but instead his hand found only the soft 'body' on which he still sat. A hand passed him his glasses, and he put them back on. 

"Oh Harry", giggled Myrtle from underneath him. "If I'd known you wanted me so badly, I'd have dressed up specially." 

tbc 


End file.
